Care must be exercised

The USA Today article in the Visalia Times-Delta's Jan. 27 paper refers to a study by the American Academy of Pediatrics, dated Oct. 27, 2013 and published in February's "Pediatrics."

The study purportedly found that in-hospital deaths of children from gunshot wounds are increasing. (Release of the study for public review was refused by its authors, Dr. Arin Madenci and Dr. Christopher Weldon).

The deception lies in the free exchange of the terms "children" and "adolescents," and the inclusion of 19- and 20-year-olds as such.

Children in their early teens are often tried as adults in the courts when prosecuted for shooting crimes, and charges enhanced when proven that the intent of the shooter was to benefit a street gang.

Acknowledged should be the author's mention of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's findings; firearms-related deaths among children, juveniles and even young adults have decreased since the 1990s. (The CDC is responsible for tracking fatal and non-fatal firearms injuries nationally).

Another of the AAP studies' claims that was widely reported by the media is that "states with higher percentages of household firearms ownership also tended to have higher proportions of childhood gunshot wounds." This inflamatory claim confuses cause and effect. More cars means more transportation, but also more auto accidents. More doctors means more health care, but also more "medical misadventures," which, by the way, outnumber accidental firearm fatalities nationwide by a factor of more than 3 to 1, according to the CDC.

Myself, I'd rather have more doctors, an automobile and a loaded firearm in the house.

Care, undoubtedly, must be exercised to prevent unauthorized access to firearms and is naturally expected of responsible adults. A fact is that quality gun vaults are much less expensive than a small collection of firearms, also preventing theft, if your home is ever burglarized.

Jeff Charest

Visalia

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Care must be exercised

The USA Today article in the Visalia Times-Delta's Jan. 27 paper refers to a study by the American Academy of Pediatrics, dated Oct. 27, 2013 and published in February's 'Pediatrics.'